388

portion of country there is also included the Mararoa Valley, above the Mavora Lakes. This part of the valley, from the head of the Mavora Lakes to the Pendulum, is for an average breadth of two miles, covered with as fine pasture as any part of the valley lower down; but from its high elevation, being no where less than 2100 feet above sea level, and rising from that till it merges into barrenness, near the source of the Mararoa, is almost certain to be under snow for some time during winter.

The pastoral country drained by the Kawarau will next be noticed. The extent is 552.3 square miles; it lies principally around the Wakatipu Lake, and the valleys leading into it. Beginning at the head of the lake, and coming down the west side there is no pastoral country till the mouth of the Greenstone is reached; there, on a terrace flat, there are a few hundred acres of fine pasture. Continuing down the lake from the Greenstone, nine miles of a very rugged steep incline, covered with fern, is passed over before the valley of the Von is reached. This valley is several miles wide; it encircles Mount Nicholas and Pasture Hill, and runs back for fifteen miles in a S.W. direction; where it blends with the Overland and Mararoa Valleys, the whole forming one continuous well-grassed, well-sheltered valley, between the Wakatipu Lake and the Te Anau Downs, of a height nowhere greater than 2600 feet above sea level, and falling from that elevation on both sides to the level of the lakes. After passing the mouth of the Von Valley the mountains again rise abruptly from the lake and leave little room between its margin and the line of barrenness for vegetation. The valleys of Collin’s Bay and Half-way Bay unite together by a low saddle behind Bayonet Peaks, and make up between them several thousand acres of very fair country. South of Half-way Bay the west side of the lake rises precipitously, and, with the exception of some straggling scrub amongst the rocks, is entirely barren. Returning to the head of the lake, and coming down its east side, there will be (including the valleys of the Dart and Rees) 91 square miles of pastoral country, gone over before reaching Fortune Cove; it consists of the spurs from the Richardson Mountains and of considerable flats at the head of the lake and around Mount Alfred. This is all well grassed, and is capable of bearing a large amount of stock throughout the year; for, from the fact of there being a large proportion of low country, not much over 1000 feet in elevation, there will always be abundance of feed during winter in the valleys when the higher parts are under snow. It is a considerable drawback to this country that—except by boat—there is no ready means of access to it, there being no beach along the lake at several places. The only way of driving stock on or off is by crossing the mountains near Moke Lake, at an elevation of 3000 feet; the track can only be taken by sheep, and that of course only when the snow is off.

After passing the precipitous coast line, west of Fortune Cave, there begins a stretch of low country, extending along the margin of the lake for several miles. It consists of terrace flats, and of hills sufficiently low to be grassed over their summits. It reaches back to the Moka Lake, and then along the Moke valley behind Ben Lomond to a junction with the Shotover valley. Its extents, together with the Shotover and Arrow valleys, and the low country extending east from Queenstown to the Crown ridge, is 149 square miles. The valleys of the Shotover and Arrow have little or no flats. The mountain spurs running down to them descend from elevations of from 5000 to 8000 feet in so very steep and rugged a manner, that considering the broken nature of the country, and the barrenness of its higher parts, not more than one-half of the extent has been classed in Table A as pastoral country. The low country extending east from Queenstown to the Crown ridge is much the best, not only of the quantity, now immediately under consideration, but also of the whole Lake District. It is an undulating extent of 20,000 acres, containing several large flats and one or two considerable hills. The whole is covered with a thick sward of grass, and is certainly entitled to rank with the very best pastoral country in the Province. This country would, from affording a safe retreat to the flocks in the winter season, have been of essential service in developing the pastoral resources of the higher parts of the Shotover and Arrow valleys, but as things now are, it has become a commonage for the large number of horses employed in packing, &c., on the Gold-fields.

Of the country lying around the Wakatipu Lake, that only remains to be mentioned that extends down the east side of the lake from Queenstown to Kingston, and from thence down a valley of 6 miles in length to the Mararoa river; the extent is 154 square miles. The low part of this country consists of the valley just mentioned and several thousand acres around Peninsula Hill. The high part consists of the slopes of the Hector mountains and the ridges of the Eyre mountains, drained by the Robert and Allen creeks. The high and low parts of this division of country bear a fair proportion to one another, and are so situated that the one develops the other.